I always wanted to be a music journalist. From the fist time I saw "Almost Famous" with 16 I started to work towards this dream. Whenever I read magazines like Intro, Musikexpress or Rolling Stone I thought to myself "One day you're gonna have your article published." Now being 26 I can tick some of the boxes. I wrote for Musikexpress and Rolling Stone and I think my 16 year old self would be very proud to see my first article in Intro this month.

33 Films in 11 days, countless pieces of unhealthy pizza, amazing answers from Meryl Streep and having coffee besides the Cohen Brothers. This years Berlinale Film Festival was a lot of fun and work. Like 2015 I wrote for Rolling Stone Online about the festival. You can find all of my articles here.

I am just feeling on a mission at the moment. I’ve never worked longer hours or experienced so much. Yes, we’re living out of a van and showers are scarce. I am sure that some rest is needed at some stage. But I just have the living sense that we are living in a very important moment, and I think that the voice of culture - of moderateness and us all taking a breathe, needs to be heard. Desperately!

Is there anything we can do, to make the situation better?

I am doing a fund raiser for these maverick Spanish firemen on the coast of Lesvos - Proem Aid. Please contribute to the boat, which will be called Sara. Briefly it is a 48 hour record. We are recording the heart in Berlin, but simultaneously musicians in other studios in Spain, London and L.A are contributing in real time. Its going to be a lot of fun and a huge challenge. Game on! Beyond that to contribute to great local foundations, check out on Facebook The Hope Centre, Elepsis and Movement On the Ground. The other thing locals have said to me - and this might sound crazy - is book a holiday to Lesvos! The local economy is pincered between two crises - the Greek economy and the refugee crisis. But it is still, despite the chaos, such a beautiful place. The locals and people here need tourism - and beyond that you can get a great deal. The locals - and Greek people -are too often forgotten in all of this.

Like most people Basti and I have been following this crisis from the start. I have felt so strongly about contributing something practically since the beginning. But - like many - I felt powerless. What could I do? I think this is a question that many have wrestled with. However I had a break through in October when I was invited to play in a refugee camp in Cologne. Playing there I realized that one of the main things that people in the camps struggle with is boredom. As time went by, Basti and I still felt like we were being too passive. Then when these attacks happened in Cologne and Hamburg at New Years, the atmosphere in Germany changed so radically. It was like going from the 60’s in openness to an atmosphere that really worries me. One thing I am sure is that in Europe, the “Right” has been sleeping for decades. The refugee crisis has woken it up. This polarization of Europe is happening not just in the slow recreation of borders but much more powerfully in our minds. I believe that we all have a role to play - because these are dangerous times in Europe. And keeping an open mind, and not jumping to extreme view points - left or right - is very very important.

What is your role as an artist going into those situations? Can art be a form of communication after everything that has happened to those people?

I was deeply concerned about this. What role does culture have in the face of a humanitarian crisis? I even thought about not bringing my guitar. What have I learnt? That we need culture more than ever. Journalism is being swallowed by dealing with the macro forces and this has turned the refugee crisis into numbers. Politics has been swept away by the inability of Europe to create a coherent strategy. So what is the place where ideas meet reality, influence each other and have the power to change polarisation, radical viewpoints, dangerous extreme politics? I will tell you: It is our culture.

Is there something good about this crisis, that we from far away, can not see?

The press is dealing in numbers only. These are people. People. The journey every single one has made has involved risking their life in order to live. That is something we would all do. I cannot describe the suffering that some of these people have gone through just to get here. I don’t know it. I have touched it, briefly, as if from space to earth. Let that fragility frame our debate, not xenophobic paranoia.

Has this trip changed your idea of Europe?

I am an European. I am so proud to be so. The central idea of Europe to me is that after 2000 years of killing one another we have arrived at the realisation of the sanctity of the human life. This manifests in the duty we have to help those in need. Regardless of your politics - and I understand the complexities of the refugee crisis, however I agree that:

We have to allow our humanity to be our guiding light” 

— Jim Kroft

Do you ever feel anxious about whats happening and can you cope with all the things you see and experience?

I continue to suffer at times with severe anxiety, and on this trip, I really struggled on the first couple of days. Just because you pull a refugee out of a boat one night, does not dismiss one’s psychological reality. That stuff is real too. But one principle I alway had was that I promised myself that no matter how bad my anxiety got, I wouldn’t let it stop my living. Why? Because the fear of what would happen to me if I just sat in a room and let it consume me was far greater than going out and saying, okay life, lets do this dance.

What do you want people to know about the current situation?

First, from being here, that every human life matters. When you see what people go through to survive, you see its preciousness. And when you hold a girl in your arms who will, simply, live or die, its fragility. Yes, being on Lesvos has taught me lessons. And it has given to me more than I could ever give to it. Second is that the debate at home is polarizing. In this, the debate - in politics and in the media - is on the “scale” of refugees. Forgotten is that each one has a story, and a life. We cannot let that voice be lost, it should be an integral part of the debate. The press is dealing in numbers only. These are people. People. The journey every single one has made has involved risking their life in order to live. That is something we would all do. I cannot describe the suffering that some of these people have gone through just to get here. I don’t know it. I have touched it, briefly, as if from space to earth. Let that fragility frame our debate, not xenophobic paranoia.

To summ up the trip until now, how do you feel about the last days? I am just feeling on a mission at the moment. I’ve never worked longer hours or experienced so much. Yes, we’re living out of a van and showers are scarce. I am sure that some rest is needed at some stage. But I just have the living sense that we are living in a very important moment, and I think that the voice of culture - of moderateness and us all taking a breathe, needs to be heard. Desperately!

Is there anything we can do, to make the situation better?

I am doing a fund raiser for these maverick Spanish firemen on the coast of Lesvos - Proem Aid. Please contribute to the boat, which will be called Sara. Briefly it is a 48 hour record. We are recording the heart in Berlin, but simultaneously musicians in other studios in Spain, London and L.A are contributing in real time. Its going to be a lot of fun and a huge challenge. Game on! Beyond that to contribute to great local foundations, check out on Facebook The Hope Centre, Elepsis and Movement On the Ground. The other thing locals have said to me - and this might sound crazy - is book a holiday to Lesvos! The local economy is pincered between two crises - the Greek economy and the refugee crisis. But it is still, despite the chaos, such a beautiful place. The locals and people here need tourism - and beyond that you can get a great deal. The locals - and Greek people -are too often forgotten in all of this.

What was the most challenging experience for you by now?

We set out on this trip to make a documentary. One night on Lesvos I was filming and a very very bad boat came in. You are talking a boat stuck in winter in the middle of the ocean with no motor. Everyone had hypothermia. The babies were in terrible life or death states. Quickly I realized that every single hand was needed. There was one girl, 8 years old or so, who I picked up because she was drenched and cold. I will never forget the moment she passed out as I carried her. I thought she was dying and maybe she would have. There were no doctors left, and many of them were giving CPR to a 4 year old on the beach. I was panicking. Eventually I started taking her clothes off, she wakes up, freaking out that a man is taking off her clothes. Her mother, frozen, finds us - orders her to take off her tops. I put my clothes over her. Slowly she warms up. We just hug and hug on the beach as pandemonium reigns around us. At the last I poke her nose and she smiles and it is the single best moment of my life. And I realize, that this little girl, Sara, is getting me through it, not the other way round. I am going to do a fundraiser and buy a boat for Lesvos refugees. And I’m going to call it Sara.

Fernweh is probably one of my all time favorite German words. Nothing describes the longing for traveling and new experiences as great as this little word, that is actually sneaking it's way into the English language more and more by now. My longing for traveling just got bigger today with this amazing and beautiful Vimeo video about a road trip from Cyrus Sutton that will make you wanna hit the road right now!